The Qualcomm S5 Gen 2 and S3 Gen 2 are their most advanced Bluetooth audio platforms ever

Other than the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 and the Snapdragon AR2 Gen 1, Qualcomm also showed off some new processors for the audio segment, the Qualcomm S5 Gen 2 and the Qualcomm S3 Gen 2 sound platform. These are, according to the company, optimised to work with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 and add a host of new features to Snapdragon Sound.

According to their latest State of Sound survey, there’s been a growing consumer interest in Bluetooth LE Audio, with over a third of respondents looking forward to new user experiences such as Auracast broadcast audio. Both these new platforms will work for this use case, with Qualcomm having worked together with Bluetooth SIG to ensure support. The Qualcomm S5 Gen 2 and S3 Gen 2 platforms will also bring with them spatial audio with dynamic head-tracking, improved lossless music streaming for the Bluetooth LE Audio specification and 48ms latency between earbuds and device for lag-free gaming.

On top of that, Qualcomm’s two new audio platforms will also support the third generation of Qualcomm Adaptive Active Noise Cancellation. This will help improve the listener’s experience by adapting to both in-ear fit as well as the user’s external environment. Then there’s also Qualcomm Adaptive ANC with its Adaptive Transparency mode featuring automatic speech detection, giving users a smooth transition between an immersive noise cancelling experience and a natural sounding leak-through when they need to hear the environment around them.

“The next-generation Qualcomm S5 and S3 platforms have been designed to deliver the rich features that consumers want most, while also delivering ultra-low power performance.

We were first to deliver Lossless audio over Bluetooth and since then, we’ve continued to innovate,” – James Chapman, Qualcomm vice president and general manager of Voice, Music and Wearables

You can expect to see commercial products such as speakers, earbuds and headsets powered by the Qualcomm S5 Gen 2 and the S3 Gen 2 sometime in the second half of 2023.